Today Katie Hamstead is visiting again as a part of
the blog tour for book 3 of the Kiya series.

Title: Kiya: Rise of a New Dynasty (Kiya
Trilogy Book #3)

Author: Katie Hamstead

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press

Genre: New Adult Historical Romance

Release Date: February 25th
2014

Blurb:

Tut
has grown into his position as Pharaoh, but he is a wild young man. Naomi fears
for him, not only because of his recklessness, but because he has put his trust
in Ay–the man determined to destroy Naomi—despite her and Horemheb advising
against it.

Meanwhile,
death and slavery hangover
Naomi and her family. With fear of the booming Hebrew numbers causing talk of
enslaving them, conscription is reinstatedand
Naomi fears for the lives of her other children. Especially sinceAy's children are now adults, and just
as dangerous as their father.They
threaten to take Itani, conspire against Tut, and pushfor power.

ButTut is in trouble. WhileAy's daughter draws Horemheb's
attention, and Naomi deals with the struggles of her family, everyone's
distraction could spell death for the young Pharaoh.

I loved this book is my favorite of the series so I
really recommend it.

Now Katie is going to talk to us about writing a
series.

*****

When I first started planning out Kiya, I
had thought it would be only one book. But as I thought about events I wanted
to cover, I realized I needed to make more than one book. So I decided to make
it into three books.

The very original concept ended at the end
of book one, with Naomi fleeing with Tut. Sort of a riding of into the sunset
to live happily ever after. But then I realized, there was more to the story
than an HEA, especially when Horemheb started smashing my head for more
attention than I originally intended.

So I worked out events I wanted to include
and constructed a timeline. Then I needed to decide how I would begin and end
each book. Book two at first started with the third assassin entering her
father’s house in Thebes, but I felt like her journey through the desert needed
to be addressed and it created a great action opening scene.

A great deal of time passes in these books,
so book three skips over six years so the momentum isn’t slowed. That was a
difficult decision to make, but necessary. The plot needed to focus on the main
people; Naomi and Tut.

Once I had where I’d break the stories
worked out, the rest fell into place. There were times during book two where
historical events lacked, so I became concerned my filler for Naomi’s life
wouldn’t make it long enough, but it worked out in the end.

About the Author:

Born and raised in Australia, Katie’s
early years of day dreaming in the “bush”, and having her father tell her wild
bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.

After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she
met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona
with her husband, daughter and their dog.
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing. She is
currently at school studying English and Creative Writing.

Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports and be a good wife
and mother. She now works as a Clerk with a lien company in Arizona to help
support her family and her schooling. She loves to write, and takes the few
spare moments in her day to work on her novels.

Blurb:Since her mother vanished nine years ago, Anamae and her father
have shared a quiet life. But when Anamae discovers a brooch identical to her
mother's favorite pendant, she unknowingly invites a slew of trouble into their
world. When the brooch and the pendant are worn together they're no longer
pretty pieces of jewelry -- they're part of a highly developed technology
capable of cloaking the human form. Triggering the jewelry's power attracts the
attention of a secret society determined to confiscate the device -- and
silence everyone who is aware of its existence. Anamae knows too much, and now
she's Enemy Number One.

She's forced to leave her father behind when she's taken in by a group
determined to keep her safe. Here Anamae searches for answers about this hidden
world. With her father kidnapped and her own life on the line, Anamae must
decide if saving her dad is worth risking her new friends’ lives. No matter
what she does, somebody is going to get hurt.

AUTHOR BIO
Stacey grew up in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. It is an area nestled
between mountains and vineyards. Full of history and culture, it provides
wonderful writing inspiration. After dabbling with poetry during her teen
years, Stacey stopped writing until after university when she was married with
young children. Now she loves nothing more than spending her days with her
children and writing when inspiration strikes.

Forget Me Not is a book close to my heart, not only because I have read
it lots of times. Thanks to the lovely author trusting me to do it. But because
it’s a story that made me completely love Science Fiction. I don’t usually love
this genre but with this book I just couldn’t stop.

The MC Anamae, has a voice true to a teenager
but still strong and moving. I liked her from the first moment as I did with
her best friend Will. I loved their friendship and how Will cares so much for
her. This story

really makes you believe fiction is
real as Mae says in the book. Teletransportation, invisibility, share your
thoughts. All that is possible and you see it as it could possibly happen.

I was intrigued with the Collective. I just
needed to know what they really did and why.

The character that I loved most was Jax, the bad
boy, but he’s just not the average bad boy he’s tormented and sweet and
confused. Just perfect.

Nash starts this adventure with an amazing
writing that reminds me of Cassandra Claire and Jane Austen. Yes an odd mix but
perfect for this story and so moving.

I can’t wait to see where this story will take
me.

And just because I can't end this post without sharing with you something of Jax:

As you might have noticed Katie Hamstead a dear friend of mine is a very prolific author. She's here again with the cover real of the last book on the series of Kiya.

Title: Kiya: Rise of a New Dynasty (Kiya
Trilogy Book #3)

Author: Katie Hamstead

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press

Genre: New Adult Historical Romance

Release Date: February 25th
2014

Blurb:

Tut
has grown into his position as Pharaoh, but he is a wild young man. Naomi fears
for him, not only because of his recklessness, but because he has put his trust
in Ay–the man determined to destroy Naomi—despite her and Horemheb advising
against it.

Meanwhile,
death and slavery hangover
Naomi and her family. With fear of the booming Hebrew numbers causing talk of
enslaving them, conscription is reinstatedand
Naomi fears for the lives of her other children. Especially sinceAy's children are now adults, and just
as dangerous as their father.They
threaten to take Itani, conspire against Tut, and pushingfor power.

ButTut is in trouble. WhileAy's daughter draws Horemheb's
attention, and Naomi deals with the struggles of her family, everyone's
distraction could spell death for the young Pharaoh.

Born and raised in Australia, Katie’s
early years of day dreaming in the “bush”, and having her father tell her wild
bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.
After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she
met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona
with her husband, daughter and their dog.
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing. She is
currently at school studying English and Creative Writing.
Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports and be a good wife
and mother. She now works as a Clerk with a lien company in Arizona to help
support her family and her schooling. She loves to write, and takes the few
spare moments in her day to work on her novels.

I know it's been a while since I posted but I'm back and with a great guest post.Katie Hamstead is here again with a new release that you don't want to miss:

Title: Branded

Author: Katie Hamstead

Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing

Genre: New Adult Romantic Suspense

Blurb:

Terrorists have invaded Sydney, and
Allison King barely escapes her brother’s wedding reception alive. She and her
siblings flee, but their parents are killed by firing squad.

Now Ali’s on the run and
terrified. While searching for other survivors, she is captured by the General
who leads the invasion. He’s smitten by Ali, and when she refuses to submit to
his whims, he brands her for death. In a wild act of defiance, she snatches the
branding rod and sears the mark onto his face. Marking not only him but also
sealing her fate. Ali manages to escape and flees into the bush once more where
she finds a group in hiding. Even with the scars left by the General, Ali
learns to love and falls in love with the young man who found her—Damien
Rogers.

But the General is hunting her. When he
discovers their location, and finds her with another man—Damien—his wrath is
kindled and his obsession is inflamed. Ali must put herself on the line or the
General could kill her family, those who help her, and most significantly, the
man she loves.

Being Katie and Aussie she will share with us about writing a novel set in Australia:

A Novel Set
in Australia

Branded
is set in the Sydney area, mostly the western suburbs and Blue Mountains. I set
most of my contemporary books around there simply for the fact that it is where
I grew up.

I
heard somewhere once that you should write what you know. So when it comes to
things that involve high school, university etc I set my stories in the
schooling system I am familiar with. My time as a foreign exchange student and
the few years I have lived in the USA have taught me the basics of the American
school system, but I don’t know it the way I do the Aussie one.

For
Branded, the concept also originated when I lived in Australia still. I came up
with the concept in 11th grade English, and wove ideas together
while staring out at the bush on hiking and road trips. The bush is a place
that has this ancient spirit to it, it’s hard to explain, but I am completely
in love with it. So Branded has some beautiful settings that I wanted to
showcase.

Knowing
the bush like that, I know easy it is to disappear. So with a map for my
characters to go by, it was the perfect place to provide refuge to the people
who escaped the carnage of the “invasion”.

Plus,
not many books are set in Australia, so why not? J

About the Author:

Born and raised in Australia, Katie’s
early years of day dreaming in the “bush”, and having her father tell her wild
bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.
After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she
met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona
with her husband, daughter and their dog.
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing. She is
currently at school studying English and Creative Writing.
Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports and be a good wife
and mother. She now works as a Clerk with a lien company in Arizona to help
support her family and her schooling. She loves to write, and takes the few spare
moments in her day to work on her novels.